Welcome to the World Madeline "Mattie" Jean Swoboda

Around midnight on September 16, 2010, soon-to-be big sister Cecilia Jo woke up needing Mommy and a "baba" before going back to bed. Daddy drug himself out of bed to get the baba, and Mommy held Celia while facing the dilemma of needing the bathroom and having a bad headache. Once Daddy had Celia, Mommy took some acetaminophen and used the restroom. Getting back into bed she said to Daddy, "Boy I really don't want to go into labor with this headache."

Before Hannah or Ben could go back to sleep, Hannah had to get up several more times to use the restroom, soon to realize that her water may have broken. By 1:30 am and after a shower, she was sure that her water had broken. She told Ben she may be in labor, and he nodded and said "ok" and rolled over and went back to sleep. Hannah went to the living room to time the short, mild contractions. She had to go back into the bedroom twice to get slippers and a watch. For the record - Ben was asleep because he never stirred. After about a half hour, around 2:00 am, Hannah woke Ben up to help her time contractions.

Contractions were very consistent at 2 minutes apart and about 40 seconds long. Ben used the first several contractions to set up an EXCEL spreadsheet and graph them. They were very consistent - and he has the proof. We discussed if we should call Michelle, our midwife. Ben thought - nah, it's really early yet because the contractions are so short. Hannah thought - my water broke and contractions are 2 minutes apart. Hannah won and they called Michelle about 2:45. She came right away (about 3:00 am) and her partner for the birth, Heidi, showed up right after.

Hannah labored mostly in the living room leaning on the sofa. Because contractions were short and due to the location of the heartbeat, Michelle suggested a knees to chest position since the baby may be slightly posterior. After one contraction in the knees-to-chest position, the contractions got longer (1.5 to 2 minutes) and things picked up. Hannah decided to move to the bedroom setup for delivery because she wanted to lie down. She demanded the lights be dimmed, and labored in knees to chest, hands and knees, and side-lying for the remainder of active labor. Hannah had called Allison with a "heads up" at 2:16 am, and sometime during labor in the bedroom she told Ben somewhat forcefully to "call Allison so we don't have to listen for the baby." Allison came over at 4:32 am and did need to give Celia another "baba" at some point.

Hannah started slightly pushing in hands and knees for about 15 minutes and decided to change positions. She tried squatting but found it uncomfortable on the bed. In retrospect, it would have been better to try squatting on the floor, but that's a lesson learned. She really felt the need to lay back and relax between pushing contractions, and decided to sit supported by Ben. Although Hannah thought it took quite a bit of time, the pushing stage really only lasted 29 minutes. After a few good pushes, Madeline "Mattie" Jean was born at 5:37 am in a dimly lit room at our new home filmed by her Aunt Allison. Her big sister Cecilia slept through it.

The birth was calm, quick, and very beautiful. Not long afterwards, Mommy and baby moved into the TV room to sit for a while. Mommy sipped on tea and held new Mattie skin to skin. She did manage to have a large stool all over Mommy not long after being tucked into the recliner! Mattie has proven to be an aggressive nurser and so far, she's done very well eating. We did see a lactation consultant the morning of September 18, which addressed some of what we were working on and set us back on the right path. Ironically, not 5 minutes after the lactation consultant arrive (at our house - yeah!) the crew arrived to set up our landline phone service. Yeah, Mommy forgot about that appointment.

All-in-all things are going beautifully and the new family couldn't be happier. We loved having a home birth and recommend it to anyone who can do it. It was so much calmer, empowering, and relaxing. Everything was better than the hospital from beginning to end. A beautiful girl and a wonderful birth.

Here is Mattie's entry on our midwives blog: http://localcaremidwifery.blogspot.com/2010/09/madeline-jean-september-16-2010.html